CB: How did the radical Jesus of the Gospels get translated into someone so meek and mild for so many Christians?
MD: At the heart of it are control issues. Let me unpack this. In other words, who controls who Jesus is? When you look at The DaVinci Code, it's like we get to determine who we want Jesus to be. We are in control. We can treat Jesus like a piece of plasticene. We can mould him and shape him into the Jesus we need him to be. We can domesticate Jesus. I think that's the fundamental problem here. Whereas what we have to do is to let Jesus define himself and be in control of his own identity. At the heart of what you're asking are control issues. Who actually ends up controlling the relationship we have with Jesus? Is it us or is it Jesus?